American Go E-Journal » Europe

The British Go Association’s (BGA) ratings list and Organisers Handbooks will continue to be publicly available on the BGA’s website, which last week launched a member’s-only section. Plans to remove much previously public information, including ratings, had met with opposition (Brits “Members-Only” Website Move Sparks Debate 7/21 EJ) and following a period of consultation, BGA President Jon Diamond announced that the ratings, handbooks and “some of the Policies which may be clearly relevant to non-members (such as Child Protection)” would remain public. Material on the Members’ Section includes electronic versions of the British Go Journals for the last year, PDFs, SGFs and problems/solutions, Council meetings and Annual General Meeting Minutes, Annual Accounts, Policies and Archive contents. Click here for full details.-Tony Collman, British Correspondent for the E-Journal.

U.S. players Benjamin Lockhart and Eric Lui defeated Rob van Zeist (Netherlands) and Cristian Pop (Romania) in the “world group” of the Samsung preliminary in the first round on August 5. In other world group play, Oleg Mezhov (Russia) defeated Yinli Wang (US) and Jan Hora (Czech) defeated Yunxuang Li (US); the next round on Tuesday will pit Mezhov vs. Lockhart and Lui vs. Hora. The only US professional playing in the preliminary, Zhujiu (Jujo) Jiang, lost in the first round Sunday to Komatsu Hideki of Japan.- reported by Thomas Hsiang

Sweden: Recently, Leksand hosted both the Leksand Open and the European Women’s Go Championship. Even though he had triumphed at the EGF Qualification tournament for Beijing 2013 two days before, Hui Fan 7d championed the Leksand Open on July 24 with Ali Jabarin 6d in second and Cristian Pop 6d in third. The same day, victory at the European Women’s Go Championship belonged to Natalia Kovaleva 5d (left) while Dina Burdakova 5k placed second and Manja Marz 3d came in third. Croatia: The 475. Velika Gorica weekend go tournament finished July 27 with Mladen Smud 1k in first, Nikola Primetica 4k in second, and MIrko Primetica 9k in third. Romania: Catalina Bianca Tudosie 12k took first at the TrSeverin – Under 16 club tournament on July 28 in Drobeta-Turnu Severin. In second was Catalin Fabian Birlan 12k and third was Marina Popa 16k.— Annalia Linnan, based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news

Hui Fan 7d (left) is on fire lately. On top of his recent Leksand Open and EGF Qualification for Beijing 2013 wins, Fan has climbed to the top of the leader board for the main tournament at the 2013 European Go Congress underway in Poland. Behind him are Antti Tormanen 6d and former first place holder Mateusz Surma 6d. However, formidable contenders Ilja Shikshin 7d, Alexandr Dinerchtein 7d, and Ondrej Silt 6d hold sixth, seventh, and eighth. Twenty-year-old Lukas Kräemer 5d is also closing in on the top ten. The main tournament recommences on August 5 at 10 A.M. local time.

Meanwhile, the weekend tournament finished August 4 with Shikshin in first, Fan in second, and Ali Jabarin 6d in third. For the latest updates, full results, photos, and more, visit the official 2013 European Go Congress website.– Annalia Linnan; photo courtesy EuroGoTV

Four U.S. players are participating in the preliminaries of the 18th Samsung Cup, being held August 2-8 in Korea. A total of 345 players will be divided into 19 groups and the winner of each group will advance and join the 13 seeded players in the main tournament, which will start in September. The 19 groups include 14 open groups, two for senior pros, two for women. The last group, called the “world group”, is formed with four North American and four European players. The pairings in this group will start with Yinli Wang (US) vs. Oleg Mezhov, Benjamin Lockhart (US) vs. Rob Van Zeist, Yunxuan Li (US) vs. Jan Hora, and Eric Lui (US) vs. Cristian Pop.

Go demonstrations and teaching games were featured at the recent London AnimeCon 2013, held at the Rocket Complex, London Metropolitan University from July 20-21. British Go Association (BGA) VP Tony Atkins and go and anime enthusiast Ben Murphy of Billaricay Go Club (“feather” on KGS) demonstrated the basic rules on 9×9 boards and then played against about 40 visitors, introducing subtleties like ko as they played. One novice was so immediately hooked that he downloaded a go app to practice overnight then asked Atkins for a return match the next day. Many were familiar with go from the anime/manga Hikaru No Go and some had even played before. Leaflets about the game were also handed out.

The exhibition was the initiative of 25-year-old BGA member Murphy, who approached the convention organizers, animeleague, who then invited the BGA to participate without charge. “It was a very interesting and fun experience teaching people and I really enjoyed seeing how much people enjoyed the game,” Murphy told the E-Journal. He hopes to be at next year’s event too, provisionally set for February 8-9 2014.- Tony Collman, British Correspondent for the E-Journal. Graphic courtesy of animeleague.

At the 3rd Pandanet Go European Team Championship — being played at this year’s European Go Congress in Poland – the Czech Republic triumphed, with Russia in second and Ukraine in third. According to reports, Russia asked the first match between the Czech Republic and Ukraine to be replayed due to an issue with the clock. However, Ondrej Silt 6d (manocska) (left), Jan Simara 6d (flashback), and Jan Hora (JanHora) 6d still led their team to victory. For complete results and full team listings, please visit the official Pandanet website.

Pavol Lisy 6d is the current leader of the main tournament at the 2013 European Go Congress in Olsztyn, Poland. Behind him are Hui Fan 7d and Polish player Mateusz Surma 6d. However, Lisy must continue to play sharply as Fan recently won both the EGF qualifying tournament for Beijing 2013 and the Leksand Open. Meanwhile, Alexander Dinertchein 7d and Ilja Shikshin 7d remain just outside the top ten. According to the official schedule, round four of the main tournament will commence on August 1. For the latest updates, full results, photos, and more, visit the official 2013 European Go Congress website.– Annalia Linnan, with additional reporting by Alain Cano; photo by Karin Valisova

Sweden: The EGF qualification tournament for Beijing 2013 finished July 22 in Leksand with Hui Fan 7d in first, Pavol Lisy 6d in second, and Alexander Dinerchtein 7d in third. Ukraine: Victory went to Artem Kachanovskyi 6d (left) at the Samsung Cup in Kyiv on July 14. Dmytro Bohatskyi 5d came in second and Andril Kravets 6d placed third. Romania: At the 4th Radu Baciu Grand Prix in Barsov (also July 14), Lucretiu Calota 5d took the lead, followed by Sergiu Dan Iugulescu 2d in second and Sora Sorin 4d in third.— Annalia Linnan, based on reports from EuroGoTV, which include complete result tables and all the latest European go news

The Walther brothers (German Brothers Team Up to Produce “Fascinating” Go Video 2/4/2013 EJ) have just released their first go video, a visually striking 60-second professionally produced “teaser” that focuses on the appeal of go rather than on teaching the game’s rules. The first of several planned videos from Play More Go, “More than a Game” delivers on the duo’s intention “to make a short video clip, like a movie trailer, to promote the game of go” and ends by calling go “The ultimate challenge: are you up for it?” Click here for their amusing 49-second contrast in how to describe go. Find out more about the project at playmorego.com.

14 answered the call and in addition, as organizer Julia Woewodskaya told the E-Journal, “There were quite a few spectators; some were asking questions about the game; one person was explained the rules and played at least one game.”

Click here for more photos.- Tony Collman, British Correspondent for the E-Journal. All photos by Kiyohiko Tanaka, Central London Go Club/Nippon Club Igokai, City of London Go Club